In the throne room all the nobles were speculating what title Merlin was going to obtain. The King had said the title came with a territory, so it wasn’t going to be a simple knighthood, which made the nobles wonder what title he was going to receive, and more importantly, where his territory would be located. The fact that a boy who wasn’t even 6 years old was going to receive a title and a territory, was completely unprecedented in the kingdom, but it had slipped their minds, because they were worried that they might end up having him as a neighbor…

The King finally appeared in the throne’s room, and after a long ceremonial speech, he finally bestowed upon Merlin the title of Earl. Now was the time to choose Earl Pendragon’s territory, and for that, the King ordered to bring a table, a chair, and a map of the kingdom. Once they were brought to the throne’s room, the King told Merlin to stand up on the chair and to look at the map.

King Dollan Sephiran: Look Merlin, do you see the different colors in the map, the territory marked in blue is the territory directly managed by the crown, so select any spot on it and you shall receive your territory around the spot of your choosing, of course, the capital is non-eligible.

Merlin: Well, I’ve always liked the Lakium forest… anyway, I choose Laklostia, my place of birth, as the center of my territory.

K. Dollan: Are you sure about that? That territory is in the border of the kingdom, and we aren’t in very friendly terms with the kingdom of Klausna… If they learn that the management of that territory is in the hands of a little boy like you… I’m afraid of what they might do…

Merlin: Worry not your Majesty. I have several ideas on how to deal with them, if they come they’ll be the guinea pigs that will prove my ideas right or wrong, but somehow, I doubt they’ll be able to return to Klausna kingdom and make their report…

K. Dollan: Ok, if you are so sure I’ll give you that territory, but please don’t let people die in vain ok?

Merlin: Don’t worry, your Majesty. I won’t allow that to happen!

K. Dollan: In that case, I shall give you the territory you want. The eastern border of your territory will be the border with Klausna kingdom. Its southern border will be in parallel with the Dorka river, 12 miles south from it, and it will go from the borders to the mountains. Finally, its northern border will start in the border with Klausna kingdom, 10 miles north from the Lakium forest, it will go in parallel to the forest and join the southern border in the mountains. Did you understand everything I said?

Merlin: Yes, your Majesty. I sincerely appreciate your generosity.

K. Dollan: Well, Earl Pendragon… Now that we have finished our business, let’s celebrate your sister’s birthday, which is actually what brought us here today in the first place!

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At the same time, in the kingdom of Forestia…

Oracle chambers, Temple of the goddess Alslia.

???: Mother! Come, hurry!

???: Ellessia, you should be practicing your divination arts… why are you shouting? As the High Priestess of the temple, I’ll have to punish you for your behavior!

Ellessia: But mother, I was practicing the divination arts and something strange happened!

H. Priestess: Ok, Ellessia. Calm down and explain to me what that “something strange” was…

Ellessia: Mother, I was practicing the divination arts to check on the outcome of a war mentioned in the “minor prophecies”, and despite what was written in the prophecy as the outcome, half of the times, the outcome shown in my divination is the opposite to the one in the prophecy! I’m certain I didn’t do anything wrong, so I don’t understand the results of my divination…

H. Priestess: Ellesia, which war was it?

Ellessia: It was the war that should take place in the continent of Klasten, between the human kingdoms of Shephiran and Klausna, ten years from now…

H. Priestess: Hmm, let me check it out for myself…

The High Priestess started using divination arts to check the outcome of the foretold war for herself, and after a hundred tries the result was clear: her daughter, Ellessia, was right. The outcome of the war had already been determined by the gods centuries before her birth, yet now, in 53 out of 100 tries, the victor wasn’t the foretold one. It didn’t make any sense, and she was at a loss because what’s told in the prophecies is supposed to be set in stone, no matter their content, it will become a reality. There was no way to change that! The matter was starting to make her go crazy, so she decided to set it aside for a while and check again a month later. She also forbid her daughter from practicing the divination arts until she told her otherwise, and told her to only practice archery and spirit magic for the following month.

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The following day, an unexpected visit came to the house of the Pendragon family. It was an old merchant, accompanied by his granddaughter and Laurenz. Merlin had been told in advance by the King, so he wasn’t surprised by their appearance, but that wasn’t the case for the rest of the family, who were startled seeing the King’s personal bodyguard accompanying their visitors.

The old man identified himself as Carl Teneris, a merchant. The little girl by his side was his granddaughter, Adelle Teneris, and also Merlin’s fiancée. The Pendragon family was speechless, they looked at Merlin but he denied with his head. Before they could say anything else, Laurenz handed a parchment with the royal seal to Anthon, so that he, Emelyn and Leyla would be able to understand the situation. They took it and started to read its contents:

[Dear Pendragon family,

I sincerely hope that you’ll be able to accept the young Adelle into your family. She may be young and inexperienced, but she is a good girl… and has already fallen heads over heels for your son Merlin. I’m personally interested in her well-being, so please treat her well. As soon as you finish reading it, please hand this parchment back to Laurenz, so that he’ll be able to proceed to its destruction.

Thank you for your comprehension.

Yours sincerely,

King Dollan Shephiran, Sovereign of the Shephiran kingdom.]

When they were done reading the parchment, Laurenz took it back and set it on fire. Laurenz didn’t relax until the whole parchment had been reduced to ashes, he then took his leave. Merlin’s parents didn’t know what to think, they obviously had to take Adelle in as per orders of the King, but they didn’t understand why the parchment said she had fallen heads over heels for Merlin, when she couldn’t possibly have been in contact with him for much time…

Carl: I see that you are wondering about the relationship between your son and my granddaughter… A few months ago, your son saved Adelle’s life and stole her first kiss, as well as her heart…

Anthon, Emelyn and Leyla looked at Merlin with a scornful look, they hadn’t thought that Merlin would be the kind of boy to go around stealing the first kisses of little girls. His brothers were speechless, while Lupa and Bastet looked at him with teary eyes… not only he didn’t usually allow them to kiss him, he had kissed another girl out of his own free will, and that hurt them… The situation was going out of control, so Merlin hurriedly said:

Merlin: Yeah, I kissed her, so what? She had been poisoned and didn’t want to take the antidote that I happened to have on me, so she didn’t leave me any other choice than kissing her and forcefully administrate the antidote to her mouth-to-mouth! If I hadn’t, she’d be dead!

Carl: That’s true, son. But it also means you now have to take responsibility for it and keep her by your side. Besides, the King already told you the other reasons for this, didn’t he?

Merlin: Yes, he did. Ok, I’ll introduce you to the other girls…

Lupa and Bastet weren’t really happy that they had a new competitor for Merlin’s love… but when they saw the way she looked at Merlin, their hearts settled down and welcomed Adelle into their group. At first they had thought of chasing her out, but after realizing she actually loved Merlin as much as they did, they accepted her as a sister.

Leyla, Emelyn and Anthon didn’t like the current development of the visit… but they were powerless to go against it. It would have been different if it was just Adelle’s family, but they had the backing of the King, and the way Merlin and Carl were talking, it seemed to exist some kind of secret involving Merlin and Adelle’s relationship, something the King knew and that he wanted to remain a secret, so they decided to wait and let time show what all that was about.

After her grandfather left, Adelle asked in which room she would sleep, but before Leyla and Emelyn could say anything, Lupa and Bastet said she would share their bed, and took her hand to lead her to the basement. Adelle thought it was a little strange to share the bed with the two of them, but after she saw its size, she understood that it wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, it was just a temporary thing until they moved out to Merlin’s new residence, so she didn’t mind it much.

Meanwhile, Merlin was being interrogated by his parents and Leyla, they wanted to know what his new plans for the future were, now that the appearance of Adelle would make the other ones useless. At that moment, Merlin realized that if he really wanted to make his dreams true, he would have to carefully plan for it… and be careful so that no additional girls fell for him. He decided that he’d leave the management of the new territory in his mother’s very capable hands, that way, he would be able to wholeheartedly train himself and the girls.

The most important matters would be training the girls, making Adelle’s Magic Awakening and exploring his new territory. There was also the matter of his official “Magic Awakening”, but he’d solve that the following week…

He told his parents of his decision and went to see the girls. Emelyn, Leyla and Anthon were a little surprised, they didn’t expect that Merlin would make a decision so soon and a so mature one at that! But once they thought about it, Merlin had always been a precocious kid, so it actually wasn’t that surprising… Since they didn’t have a choice in the matter they let it go and decided to start making plans for the celebration of Merlin’s sixth birthday, which would take place five days later.

In the basement, Adelle was a little troubled. She had accepted sharing the big bed with Lupa and Bastet, but nobody had told her that Merlin usually slept in their bed with them… had they told her beforehand, she’d asked for a different room, because her heart still wasn’t prepared for her to share a bed with Merlin… but now it was too late so she tried to cope with the situation by laying down in one of the sides, with one of the other girls between her and Merlin.

Adelle finally fell asleep, and so did Merlin. On the other hand, Lupa and Bastet were still awake and with mischievous smiles in their faces… They had thought of a prank that, if done well, it might help to get rid of Adelle’s shyness around Merlin. They decided it was the time to do it, so they got up and moved Adelle until she was on top of Merlin, then they laid down on both of his sides, as they usually did, and fell asleep with a smile… The following morning they would have so much fun…

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On a side-note, remember that this world is way bigger than Earth. The territory occupied by the kingdom of Shephiran would be half the size to the U.S. and the territory given to Merlin would be of the size of the State of Montana.

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You can always read a chapter ahead, or support the story, at http://merlinpendragon.blogspot.com/ !